Jesus laments over Jerusalem
The Jewish War was the most tragic war in Israel’s history. “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.” (Matthew 24:21)
After exposing the Scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem. He saw the city and wept over it (Matt.23: 37-39 & Luke 19:41-44).
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gatherethher chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate….”
As on today, the same Jerusalem in the land of Israel is still left desolate because they had known the time of the visitation of their Messiah, which was hidden from their eyes. They did not know the things that made for their peace. Even now also, these things are hidden from their eyes. Till this day, they have not accepted Jesus as their Savior. Owing to the afflictions of their enemies, who surround them, they have no peace today. Peace is eluding them. What a pity!
The armies of Titus destroyed the temple built by Solomon in A.D. 70, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus in Matt.24: 2. Not one stone was left there upon another. The temple ofJerusalem was thus razed to the ground. If the people of Jerusalem had taken the lamentation of Jesus seriously and repented of their sin, their city would have been preserved even today.
If today the Jews of the physical Israel accept Jesus and say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord”, the Lord will change the course of history, and will give them peace in place of war.
Now let us leave aside the physical Jerusalem. We, the members of His body, do constitute the spiritual Jerusalem. We are the children of the promise. Today as you read this message, Jesus weeps over our Jerusalem. The Church, which is ordained of God as “the light of the world”, is not shining brightly and steadily but flickeringly. If the Church, the salt of the earth, loses its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men (Matt.5: 13-14).
The Church of today is a divided house and has backslidden. It is laden withlukewarmness, worldliness, prayerlessness, unfaithfulness, heresy, rivalry, hatred, etc. To rub salt into the injury, the false prophets and false teachers are throttling the Church from within. Though it has a name that it lives, it is indeed dead (Rev.3: 1).
Is Christ divided? (I Cor.1: 13). No, Christ, the Head of the Christ is not divided. But, the Church, the body of Christ is divided by man – divided mainly on account of some doctrines, some of which are but minor. “There is one body, and one Spirit….” (Eph.4: 4). “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…” (I Cor.12: 13). God is not to blame for the division of the Church because He has never intended any such division.
Those belonging to one denominational church look down upon or even hate those belonging to another denominational church. “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now”. Darkness hath blinded his eyes (I Jn.2: 9-11). “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (I Jn.3: 14). Nobody can claim salvation through the Blood of Jesus if he hates his brother and thus abides in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer and no murderer has eternal life abiding in him (I Jn.3: 15). The disciples of Christ Jesus write or preach in a derogatory manner against one another, thereby persecuting the very body of Christ, of which they are themselves, members. “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Church: For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Eph.5: 29-30). The Church has thus become a divided house.
Oh, how Jesus wants to gather our spiritual children in His body together as a hen gathers her chickens, under her wings! The demons of drugs and alcohol, divorce and adultery, homosexuality, abortion, lustful pleasures are spreading their tentacles on our spiritual children. The Lord wants to keep them under His wings. Let us confess our sins and iniquities, repent of our backslidings, humble ourselves before the glory of His Cross and turn to God so that God may not send His armies of Babylonians to destroy our spiritual children in the body of Christ. Dear ministers of God, this is a wake-up call for you to fast and pray.
O Jerusalem, do not persecute the prophets that the Lord sends to your churches! In many churches, the pastors stone these prophets who are appointed in the second place in the body of Christ by God. These prophets give warning and prophetic messages to the churches. Let us accept them in our churches and heed to their messages. They function like the white corpuscles in the body of Christ. When some foreign bodies (false prophets/false teachers) enter the body of Christ, these prophets fight the false prophets with the two-edged Sword of the Spirit. They are inbuilt members of the body of Christ. When a human body is short of white corpuscles, it becomes prone to deadly diseases like AIDS.
- Job Anbalagan